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Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks during the confirmation hearing of Kevin Warsh, nominee for Federal Reserve chair, on Capitol Hill, in Washington Tuesday, April 21, 2026.<\/span>Jose Luis Magana\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On Sunday,<\/span> Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he would confirm Donald Trump\u2019s nominee for the new Federal Reserve chair after the Department of Justice made \u201cassurances\u201d to <\/strong>him that it would drop its investigation into the current chair, Jerome Powell.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office criminal investigation into Chair Powell was a serious threat to the Fed\u2019s independence,\u201d Tillis wrote in a Sunday morning statement on X<\/a>. \u201cI take the Department of Justice at its word: the investigation is closed.\u201d<\/p>\n The dispute started when the Justice Department opened a criminal probe into Chair Jerome Powell over costs in funding renovations to the Federal Reserve\u2019s Washington headquarters. But on Friday, Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, posted on X<\/a> that her office would close its investigation while the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve looks into central bank\u2019s project costs.<\/p>\n \u201cNote well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so,\u201d Pirro wrote at the end of her Friday statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Tillis may take Pirro\u2019s announcement as a win, when has fully<\/a> trusting<\/a> the<\/a> Department of Justice been a good idea?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not dropped. They\u2019re looking into the whole thing,\u201d President Trump suggested on Saturday<\/a> regarding Pirro\u2019s statement. \u201cHow can a building that I could have done for $25 million cost $4 billion?\u201d<\/p>\n Pressure has ramped up<\/a> on Trump to boost the economy and relieve the affordability crisis. He has repeatedly called for dropping interest rates\u2014and his new nominee Kevin Warsh is falling in line<\/a>. But Powell, who was nominated to become Fed chair in 2017 by Trump, has held interest rates steady and reiterated the central bank\u2019s independence<\/a> from the president.\u00a0<\/p>\n As I wrote when news broke of the Justice Department\u2019s investigation this past January, many lawmakers said<\/a> that the move was part of the president\u2019s public efforts to coerce lower interest rates.<\/p>\n The Trump administration was \u201cactively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve,\u201d Tillis said<\/a>. \u201cIt is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question,\u201d he continued, as he vowed to oppose the confirmation of any new Fed chair nominee until the matter was \u201cfully resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n During Kevin Warsh\u2019s confirmation hearing last week, Tillis backed up his January statement<\/a>, saying that while Warsh had \u201cextraordinary credentials,\u201d he would not support a confirmation unless the Justice Department dropped its investigation.<\/p>\n So much for that now. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n